Four probed in actor's hanging death

Raphael Schumacher's organs donated

(ANSA) - Pisa, February 5 - Two directors and two stage
technicians were placed under investigation Friday for
manslaughter in the death of 27-year-old Italian actor Raphael
Schumacher, who was strangled while acting out a hanging scene
during a show at Pisa's Lux theatre on Saturday night.
The four may also be liable for failing to follow workplace
safety regulations, prosecutors said.
Schumacher was pronounced dead Thursday evening and his
family authorized the donation of his organs.
In the scene, Schumacher recited a monologue expressing the
existential angst of a 15-year-old who ends up placing his head
in a noose to depict suicide by hanging. The monologue took
place before a single spectator. Shumacher was discovered
unconscious and completely oxygen-deprived by the following
spectator, a few minutes after the end of his scene.
He never recovered consciousness.